Sometimes, selling luxury goods really is a science.

Bullfrog Spa’s Power Per Square Foot program, designed to help retailers who carry the brand succeed, offers perfectly calibrated methods to optimize and boost in-store sales.

The company lays out its approach in a staggeringly informed 150-page compendium of sales strategies, support opportunities and marketing techniques. But Senior Marketing Manager Breanne Carlson says the guide is constantly evolving.

“We’ve been building Power Per Square Foot for over six years. And it is all about spa retail best practices,” says Carlson. “It covers everything from your advertising to your operations, from your event strategy to your layout and sales.”

But PPSF isn’t just a two-dimensional sales textbook for program members — although it is that, too — it’s a 360-degree suite of tried and tested retail solutions, says Carlson.

“What’s really cool about Power Per Square Foot is not only are we gathering intel and data within our network, but we are also able to use our factory store locations as a laboratory to develop the guidance we provide in Power Per Square Foot.”

Proven Results

That “laboratory” work means the program isn’t some newfangled experiment, stresses Adam Patrick, Bullfrog’s Director of Sales. “It is our model for retail success. And it’s not it’s not conceptual. It’s something that’s proven because we have done it in our own factory stores. And we have opened factory stores in several different states and regions across the country — small market, big market, different demographics — so we have the relevant data and can correlate our findings to benefit dealers who carry Bullfrog Spas.”

Another part of the PPSF package is expert guidance, adds Patrick. “Our regional managers are a seasoned team of veterans with their own retail experience,” he says. “They are hands-on when it comes to visiting your store and helping you.”

The program also offers collaborative educational opportunities in the form of monthly webcasts and in-person sales training courses in Utah.

Collaborative Retail Success

Kristy Sabey, Bullfrog Spas’ retail merchandising specialist and one of the spa sales experts who run trial-and-error tests that help shape PPSF recommendations, makes clear that the factory store experiments are meant to benefit all Bullfrog Spas retailers.

“We call the dealers who join the program our ‘retail partners’ for a reason,” Sabey says. “Because when they succeed, we succeed. So we’re very invested in seeing them do well. And the biggest win is our ability to see what works best for our sales team and then give what we’ve learned to our dealers.”

For Sabey, the confirmed best practices goes back to an old idea. “If you think of the term dress for success, I believe it’s the same concept with a showroom space. You’re showing up for your customers; you’re telling them who you are as a business. So if they come in and your space doesn’t look nice, and it’s not well-lit, you are missing a huge opportunity.”

To ensure dealers optimize in-store customer experience, Sabey says, the Bullfrog Spas team has studied various layout, design and other experiential details and their relation to sales conversion. As a result, PPSF offers retail partners specific guidance on everything from interior lighting and merchandising props to showroom layout designs that foster sales.

Since getting showroom layout — the merchandising, the design, signage, product flow, and price messaging — is critical to improving conversion, PPSF offers schematics and design recommendations. Retailers who want to do a deeper collaborative dive can apply, with the help of their regional manager, for the Bullfrog Showroom Design program.

The Complexity of Simplicity

The PPSF guidebook includes thirty-seven pages devoted to sales — from presentation to consumer financing. But while displaying a Bullfrog Spa is a powerful sales tool, explaining these unique products is vital. And so Patrick, Sabey and other Bullfrog Spas veterans have honed a training program with both the customer and salesperson in mind.

So training focuses on “what makes it easy to walk through the product in a way that’s not overwhelming for customers but is also very easy for a salesperson to tell that brand story and talk about the Bullfrog Spas difference,” says Sabey.

“All of the things that we do in our factory showroom are absolutely transferable to dealers out in the field, from where to put the spas to staging to when to discuss financing.”

“We Even Generate Leads for You — for Free”

The most compelling thing about Power Per Square Foot’s offerings may be that everything is free.

“These are all things that other industries other manufacturers may charge for. But they are part of our free program,” says Patrick.

The sales director notes that Bullfrog Spas even picks up the tab for the company’s successful lead generation program. “We even provide you with a basic CRM system to help you track and manage the leads that we generate for you. These are leads generated from our website that, when they match a dealer’s assigned marketing area, go directly to them.

“The Power Per Square Foot playbook has other support programs, including volume rebates and a co-op program to help subsidize some advertising costs.”

When Bullfrog Spa retail partners do the math and calculate PPSF’s upside to their business, they can see the results on their balance sheet, says Patrick.

That’s a typical response, reports Carlson. It’s pretty clear that Bullfrog Spas is investing in being a good partner,” she says. “Power Per Square Foot is a program designed to expand sales by helping our retailers grow their business. The only price for retail success for them is becoming a partner. We think it’s a win-win deal.”